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Old 06-26-2014, 11:27 AM   #1
joanna
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Join Date: Jun 2014
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Hyperthermia with radiotherapy

Hello, everyone!
I found out this website some time ago, but this is my first post here because I'm not skilled in English and I feel a bit ashamed. I'm Italian, I live in Italy and I'm taking care of my sister. She was diagnosed in 2010, and in 2012, she became HER2 positive, Stage IV with bone metastases: she even had a total femur replacement. Last pet and MRI showed that now bone metastases have spread pretty wide, so the oncologist switched her to Xeloda+Tykerb. She will undergo radiotherapy, too, and that is the point. I've read some articles about a treatment called hyperthermia, combined with radiotherapy for a better outcome. I'd like to ask if there's someone who heard about that treatment.
I also would like to say that I'm supporting my sister better thanks to this site, so I'm heartily grateful to its founders and members.
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Old 06-26-2014, 07:11 PM   #2
MaineRottweilers
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Re: Hyperthermia with radiotherapy

I have no such experience. I just wanted to let you know that you and your sister are in my prayers. I hope someone will weigh in for you with their experience.

....and your English is beautiful. Your grammar is superior to native writers by far. You should be proud to show it off, keep on posting
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6/14/13 Chemo started TCH
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7/1/13 PET Scan NED!
9/27/13 FINAL CHEMO taken! ----well, maybe not.
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10/24/13 Radiation begins and fourth tattoo placed.
11/27/13 Perfectly radiant! Radiation completed the day before Thanksgiving and so, so much to be thankful for this year and every day hereafter.
1/2/14 Happy New Year, you have a Goiter? Muga down to 59%.
1/17/14 Hashimoto's Dz Dx'd. Now maybe I'll feel BETTER!
5/2/14 Herceptin completed! New kitten!
8/19/14 Prophylactic mastectomy (right) and PORT OUT! I'm DONE and now I really am a SURVIVOR.
2/15 Started not feeling so swell. Memory lapses and GI issues with nausea and blurry vision.
4/30/15 U/S cystic gallbladder, cyst on right ovary and mass in my uterus. GYN consult scheduled---and cancelled. I'm not ready.
5/4/15 Brain MRI clear (big sigh of relief)
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8/31/15 Radiograph: compression fracture L2
9/10/15 Bone Scan positive
9/21/15 CT scan conclusive for tumor
10/1/15 CT guided biopsy & Brain to Pelvis MRI reveal additional lesions on spine C6, T10, T11 and L2 is collapsing.
10/8/15 Abbreviated pathology: new tumor(s) poorly differentiated carcinoma consistent with known breast primary.
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HER2/neu+++ Ki-67 4% Pancytokeratin AE1/3 Strong Positivity in all malignant cells.
10/13/15 Abnormal Dexa: moderate risk of fracture to both femoral head/neck R&L. Significant risk to lumbar spine.
10/14/15 Radiation consult back to the cooker.
10/20/15 MUGA 50% down from 54% after a year off Herceptin (???)
10/21/15 Kyphoplasty L2
10/22/15 Re-start Chemo: Perjeta, Herceptin & Taxotere
10/26/15 PET Scan confirms C6, T10-11, L2, new lesion noted at L4 but no visceral involvement---Happy dance!!!
10//29/15 Xgeva
10/29/15 Radiation Simulation--three new tattoos to add to my collection. Just call me Dotty.
10/30/15 CA27-29 63 U/mol (<38 U/mol)
11/3/15 First Trip to see Dr. E. Mayer at DFCI
11/4/15 Surgical consult to re-install my little purple power port.
11/9/15 Radiation treatment one of five.
11/10/15 Installed my little purple power port and not a moment too soon, took them four tries to get an IV started today.
Yes, we really are going down this road again.
12/5/15 CT for suspected pulmonary embolism demonstrates increase in T10-11 mets.
12/8/15 Bone Scan uptake at T10-11 (not seen 9/17/15) & Right 8th Rib (not evident on PET 10/26/15)
12/10/15 Consult Re: PROGRESSION. Halt THP due today. Schedule PET and order TDM1 for next week. PLAN B.
12/14/15 PET scan: NO PROGRESSION! THP is working, metabolic activity minimal. Merry Christmas to me! Sticking with PLAN A, it's working.
1/7/16 Start Taxol weekly instead of Taxotere (has been too taxing and not rebounding between txs.) Zometa instead of Xgeva.
3/28/16 CT shows new sclerotic lesions on T12, L3, L5, L6, right ilium and head of right femur. No uptake on Bone Scan (progression????)
3/31/16 Discontinue Taxol start Arimidex, still getting H&P.
6/2/16 Discontinue Arimidex and start Exemestane.
6/18/16 PET is NEAD!!
7/1/16 Discontinue Exemestane and restart Armidex (SEs)
8/29/16 CT/Bone Scan Stable (still uptake at T10-11)
10/3/16 BSO pathology negative
10/10/16 MRI: Brain clear!
10/14/16 Switched care to Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care
11/24/16 Xgeva, New MO preference to Zometa
12/12/16 CT/Bone scan Mostly stable significant uptake at L2 plan to PET
1/12/17 PET shows NEAD celebrate with a new puppy!
3/29/17 CT & BS = NEAD
7/31/17 Aetna denies access to H&P <gearing up for a fight>
8/4/17 CT& BS= STABLE
8/9/17 No treatment, Aetna still denying H&P
8/14/17 Aetna appeal approved H&P through February 2018!
2/5/18 CT & BS = STABLE

//
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Old 06-26-2014, 08:13 PM   #3
BrendaB
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Re: Hyperthermia with radiotherapy

The doctors were considering hyperthermia plus radiation for me, after the cancer came back. However, due to needing a skin graft on my chest, they decided it wouldn't work to radiate that. Apparently hyperthermia treatments were more common a decade or so ago, and now the machines are too costly to keep going, what with other procedures being done, so a lot of hospitals let them go. The Cancer Treatment Centers in Philadelphia PA and Cleveland Oh still use them, I think. Best of luck to your sister; both of you will be in my prayers.
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11/11/11 new cluster of calcifications "We caught it early; easy fix" I almost feel guilty to say I have breast cancer, knowing that others go through so much.
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11/29/11 MRI, original calcifications are also cancer
12/13/11 lumpectomy, not clear margins
12/27/11 re-excision, SNB 2 of 3 nodes +
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1/23/12 port placement
1/31/12 start 6 rounds TCH, Herceptin for a year
June, July 2012 35 rounds radiation
1/31/13 NED for a few months anyway
6/11/13 ultrasound guided biopsy, it's back; I'm furious this time.
6/24/13 mastectomy (left side), lymph nodes removed, 2 of 17 are +
7/5/13 CT scans clear
9/9/13 Rash,lump along scar; Biopsy;it's back again! Are you kidding me?
9/19/13 skin resection, skin graft from leg
10/1/13 PET scan, lymphatic invasion, nodes under right arm,supraclavicular nodes, sternum show activity. Considered metastatic.
10/10/13 Herceptin, while the team considers options.
11/7/13 Kadcyla, for a year, every 3 weeks.
1/15/14 PET scan shows NO metabolic activity! Happy dance! Thank you Jesus!
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Old 06-27-2014, 02:56 AM   #4
Jackie07
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Re: Hyperthermia with radiotherapy

HI,

Found this abstract from the PubMed Database. You probably can get the full-text article from the clinic/hosp
ital and discuss it with your sister's doctors.

J Cancer. 2014 May 29;5(6):472-9. doi: 10.7150/jca.8693. eCollection 2014.
Perspectives of breast cancer thermotherapies.

Alphandéry E.
Author information
  • 1. Nanobacterie SARL, 36 boulevard Flandrin, 75116, Paris, France. ; 2. Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique des Milieux Condensés, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France.
Abstract

In this article, the use of different types of thermotherapies to treat breast cancer is reviewed. While hyperthermia is most commonly used as an adjuvant in combination with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy or cryotherapy to enhance the therapeutic effect of these therapies, thermoablation is usually carried out alone to eradicate small breast tumors. A recently developed thermotherapy, called magnetic hyperthermia, which involves localized heating of nanoparticles under the application of an alternating magnetic field, is also presented. The advantages and drawbacks of these different thermotherapies are highlighted.
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Old 06-29-2014, 09:56 AM   #5
joanna
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Re: Hyperthermia with radiotherapy

Thank you ladies for your responses.

MaineRottweilers, thanks for encouraging me with my English, and for cheering up my sister and me!

BrendaB, I checked the Centers you mentioned in your post. The one in Philadelphia introduces hyperthermia as "a promising option for patients with advanced or recurrent cancer"; as for the Cleveland Center, they think that "by adding hyperthermia to radiation therapy, radiation oncologists can increase tumor control". I think that both statements are encouraging, despite the fact that this option seems to be fallen a bit into disuse.
However, I'm glad that the other treatments that you underwent have turned out to be very useful for you.

Jackie, I find the article that you posted very interesting. I've understood almost all of it, though different kinds of hyperthermia were described in a technical language. My sister said that it's worth to give it a try, when I read it to her (she doesn't speak English). She sent it to her doctor, so next week we will discuss it with him. In the meanwhile, I will search for treatment centers here in Italy.

Thank you for your helpful adivices!
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